The Zulu and the Zayda is a play-with-music by Howard Da Silva

Howard Da Silva

Howard Da Silva was an American actor.-Early life:He was born Howard Silverblatt in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Benjamin and Bertha Silverblatt. His parents were both Yiddish speaking Jews born in Russia. He had a job as a steelworker before beginning his acting career on the stage...

 and Felix Leon, with music and lyrics by Harold Rome (his last musical score), and directed by Dore Schary

Dore Schary

Isadore "Dore" Schary was an American motion picture director, writer, and producer, and playwright who became head of production at MGM and eventually president of the studio...

. It was based on a story by Dan Jacobson

Dan Jacobson

Dan Jacobson is a novelist, short story writer, critic and essayist. He has lived in Great Britain for most of his adult life, and for many years held a professorship in the English Department at University College London...

. Described as a comedy with music, the play has two acts and 18 scenes.

Produced by Theodore Mann

Theodore Mann

Theodore Mann, birth name Goldman, is an American theatre producer and director and the Artistic Director of the Circle in the Square Theatre School....

 and Dore Schary

Dore Schary

Isadore "Dore" Schary was an American motion picture director, writer, and producer, and playwright who became head of production at MGM and eventually president of the studio...

, the Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 production, opened on November 10, 1965 at the Cort Theatre

Cort Theatre

The Cort Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 138 West 48th Street in the Theatre District of midtown Manhattan in New York City...

, where it ran for 179 performances. The cast included Menasha Skulnik

Menasha Skulnik

Menasha Skulnik was a Jewish American actor, primarily known for his roles in Yiddish theater in New York City. Skulnik was also popular on radio, playing Uncle David on The Goldbergs for 19 years...

, Ossie Davis

Ossie Davis

Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...

, and Louis Gossett.
It also featured Yaphet Kotto

Yaphet Kotto

Yaphet Frederick Kotto is an African-American actor, known for numerous film roles , and his starring role in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street .-Early life:Kotto was born in New York City, the son of Gladys Marie, a...

 in his first Broadway appearance.

Plot

Set in Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, this comedy is about a lively Jewish grandfather (zayda is the Yiddish word for grandfather) who moves to Africa from London, whose family (the Grossmans) hires Paulus, a native (a member of the Zulu tribe), and brother of a family servant, as a companion, and "grandfather sitter." The relationship between the zayda and Paulus, the Zulu, bridges the gulf between black and white, Africa and Europe, and age and youth, as Paulus teaches his new friend local Zulu phrases while he himself learns Yiddish expressions. Eventually, local prejudices interfere, but there is a happy ending.

The play description written by C. Burr, included on the original cast album, notes:

THE ZULU AND THE ZAYDA is a play with music about two remarkably undiscouraged people living under very discouraging circumstances. The Zulu's circumstances are, as most of us know and feel, that he lives in a homeland taken over by white proprietors in which he must watch every step and every breath just to keep what little freedom he has left to him....

A zayda, as we learn, is a Jewish grandfather. This particular zayda is 79 years old and has been twice uprooted in his life, first from Slutsk, his native village in Czarist Russia, and more recently from London, where for many years he was happily selling wares from a pushcart. Now he finds himself in Johannesburg, where his devoted son, who runs a prosperous hardware store and nervously tries to avoid trouble while raising a family, has brought him to live out the rest of his years.

Background

Dan Jacobson, the author of the original story upon which this work was based, was born in 1929 in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his family had fled to escape persecution of Jews in Europe. His grandfather was a rabbi in Lithuania. Many of his stories and novels dealt with issues of prejudice and racism. The original story, "The Zulu and the Zeide," was also the basis of a one-man performance without music, created and performed by Michael Picardie of the Everyman Theater in Cardiff, Wales, as part of the 2004 Leeds (UK) International Jewish Theater Festival.

Harold Rome was familiar with the Jewish background of "the zayda" because of his own Jewish background, but he was also familiar with African culture since he had been a collector of African art since 1939, eventually bringing together one of the most important collections of such art in the world. Additionally, he was intrigued with African music, resulting in a score that combined elements of music from both African and Jewish cultures.

It has been suggested that the reason the production is sometimes referred to as a play with music or a comedy with music, rather than a "musical," is the absence of dance numbers.

Cast Album

A cast recording of the original production is available as a long-playing album, produced in 1965. The album cover includes a number of Yiddish and Zulu words and expressions used in the play, translated by Harold Rome, including "awuyelelemama," translated as the Zulu equivalent of the Yiddish word, "oy."

Although never released as a CD, plans to release a digital version for download were announced on Oct 18, 2010, by Masterworks Broadway, to be available December 2010.

Musical numbers

The musical numbers and original cast performers, as listed on the 1965 original cast album (Columbia Records, KOL 6480), include:
Act I

• Prelude -- orchestra
• "Tkambuza" -- Ossie Davis
• "It’s Good to Be Alive" -- Menasha Skulnik, Louis Gossett
• "Crocodile Wife" -- Ossie Davis
• "Rivers of Tears" -- Menasha Skulnik
• "The Water Wears Down the Stone" -- Ossie Davis
• "Like the Breeze Blows" -- Peter DeAnda, Christine Spencer,
  Ensemble
• "Oisgetzaychent" (Out of This World) -- Menasha Skulnik, Ensemble

Act II

• Entr'acte -- Orchestra
• "Some Things" -- Ensemble
• "Zulu Love Song" -- Louis Gossett
• "May Your Heart Stay Young" -- Menasha Skulnik, Ensemble
• "How Cold, Cold, Cold" -- Ossie Davis
• "Eagle Soliloquy" -- Louis Gossett
• Finale -- Menasha Skulnik, cast

Opening night cast

The cast and characters on opening night included:

• Norman Barrs: Tommy Layton
• Sarah Cunningham
  Sarah Cunningham (actress)
  Sarah Cunningham was an American film, stage and television actress.-Personal life:Sarah Cunningham was born Sarah Lucie Cunningham in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. She was married to film and Tony award winning broadway actor John Randolph from January 3, 1942 until her death on...
  
  : Helen Grossman
• Ossie Davis: Johannes
• Peter DeAnda: Peter
• Louis Gossett: Paulus
• Ed Hall: William
• Robert Hewitt: Groenwald
• James Higgins: Koofer
• Max Jacobs: Dyckboom
• John Randolph Jones: Eric
• Sandra Kent: Woman with Baby Carriage, and Nurse

• Yaphet Kotto: John
• Sholom Ludvinsky: Mourner
• David Mogck: Policeman
• Charles Moore: Mr. Lamene
• John Pleshette: David Grossman
• Joe Silver: Harry Grossman
• Menasha Skulnik: Zayda
• Christine Spencer: Joan
• Ella Thompson: Mrs. Lamene
• Philip Vandervort: Arthur Grossman

Opening night production credits

The following list includes credits noted on the production's opening night:

• Producers: Dore Schary and Theodore Mann
• Book: Howard Da Silva and Felix Leon, based on the story, "The Zulu and the Zeide," by Dan Jacobson,published in 1959.
• Music: Harold J. Rome
• Lyrics: Harold J. Rome
• Music orchestrated by Meyer Kupferman
• Director: Dore Schary
• Scenic Design: William and Jean Eckart
• Costume Design: Frank Thompson
• Lighting Design: William and Jean Eckart
• Production Stage Manager: Jeb Schary and Harry Young
• Musical Supervisor: Meyer Kupferman
• Conductor:Michael Spivakowsky
• Press Representatives: Lawrence Belling, Violet Welles,
  Merle Debuskey and Reuben Rabinovitch

Reviews

The New York Daily News called the play "...something to warm the heart, lighten the spirit." Some reviewers noted that this production showed that "the social conscience that had marked" Harold Rome's early works was "still intact," as evidenced by the way this work dealt with racial and religious intolerance.

Even reviews that were not completely positive about the production as a whole noted Skulnik's performance. For example, a Time magazine reviewer wrote that:

The consolation prize is Menasha Skulnik, a totally endearing imp of 70. His face is a relief map of mischief and melancholy, and there is a laugh hidden in every crease. The stage may be stationary—Skulnik never is. Visions of sour pickles and gefilte fish seem to dance in his head.

Pearl Harrand, who recreated the production as a one-woman performance, interspercing dialogue, story description, and song, described the work as follows:

Through the eyes of the grandfather and the Zulu you see the story of apartheid, the agony of the grandfather's geriatric life in a strange land, and the beautiful association that develops between the two as they become more father and son than elder and servant.... It's all about putting yourself in the shoes and skin and voice of the characters and relating every moment to communicating with the characters around you. The message of The Zulu and the Zayda is simply that it's great to be alive, and that's a great message.